Hot Shot Bedbug & Flea Fogger Is ‘Ineffective’ at Killing Bedbugs, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action accuses the makers of Hot Shot Bedbug & Flea Fogger of false advertising, given that the product is allegedly ineffective in killing bedbugs.

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The 19-page lawsuit centers around a 2012 study conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University's Department of Entomology that tested the effectiveness of the bedbug fogger. The study concluded that the Hot Shot product, which is designed to eradicate the pests by dispersing insecticides known as pyrethrins and pyrethroids through an aerosol mist, showed “little, if any,” impact on modern-day bedbugs commonly found in homes, the case relays.

According to the complaint, defendants United Industries Corporation and Spectrum Brands continue to misrepresent on the fogger’s front label that it “KILLS BED BUGS” despite knowing the product has been scientifically proven ineffective. By doing so, the companies have unlawfully tricked consumers into buying or significantly overpaying for the Hot Shot Bedbug & Flea Fogger, the filing alleges.

The suit specifies that in the 2012 study, researchers tested the Hot Shot fogger in vacant office rooms on the Ohio State campus to analyze its effect on five different types of bedbugs collected from homes within the surrounding area. In the first round of experiments, the insects were directly exposed to the aerosol mist in “open, unprovisioned” Petri dishes, the case explains.

Per the lawsuit, another set of bedbugs were placed in Petri dishes with a “filter paper disc” they could hide underneath while exposed to the insecticide.

“The optional harborage experiment is more analogous to use in a home setting,” the complaint says, explaining that bedbugs often hide in hard-to-reach areas like under furniture, in the walls or in cracks and crevices. 

The filing shares that in both experiments, all five field-collected bedbug populations exhibited “low mortality” even when assessed several days after exposure. Even a bedbug population particularly susceptible to pyrethroids, which the researchers used as an internal control for the experiment, showed “significantly reduced acute mortality” when given the option to hide, the suit says.

“In other words, bedbugs with pyrethroid resistance are the ones that would commonly be found in a consumer’s home, rendering the product ineffective,” the case claims. 

What’s more, the Hot Shot fogger only treats areas where its insecticide lands, which is limited to exposed surfaces, the filing points out. Since bedbugs tend to hide in protected spaces, the product is “completely ineffective for real-world use,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased the Hot Shot Bedbug & Flea Fogger.

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